Always, and ever, a Greengrass
by WoeMeTheWriter
Summary: Daphne doesn't want to wed, not without her sister. Draco doesn't want to live, not without his wife. One thing remains for certain: Death brings people together, right?


_Written for the QLFC- Round 4: Write about whatever you want whilst portraying your given emotion in your fic._

 _Anyway, a big thank you to Jordi and Raybe for beta'ing this fic._

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 **Always, and ever, a Greengrass**

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"Daphne," Theo called softly and he waited patiently for a reply. None came. "Daphne, please open the door," he tried again. Still silence greeted him. But then he heard something sorrowful and heartbreaking. Daphne was never a loud crier, even back at Hogwarts. She would contemplate silently and alone, not over-dramatic and attention seeking like Pansy. Daphne always kept her emotions in check, like a proper pureblood woman, his mother would say.

Theo muttered, "Alohomora," and the bedroom door clicked open. He pushed the door slightly and he saw her immediately. She looked stunning: her honey blonde hair was tied up but delicate curls cascaded down her back at the same time; her white silk dress was puffy and seemed to be shimmering in the sunlight that streamed in from the window. But even though she looked beautiful, her eyes told a different story. They were full of tears and misery.

"Oh, Daphne," Theo breathed and he rushed to her side and wrapped her in a tight hug. Daphne squeezed him tightly, her sobs muffling in his shoulder.

"I can't do this, Theo" she sobbed out.

"What?" he asked, stroking her head.

"Marry you."

His stroking ceased and he leaned back to look into her eyes.

"Not without her."

He relaxed slightly, but his concerned frown stayed put. "Astoria would've wanted you to be happy."

"Astoria also wanted to go to America before the age of twenty-four but that's not going to happen is it!?" Daphne suddenly snapped. She came out of the hug and ran her fingers through her hair. Her diamond engagement ring sparkled slightly.

Theo didn't know what he should do. He tried to comfort her, but all he got was a cold response; he tried giving her space but she just withdrew in the shadows more. He thought scheduling their wedding earlier than planned would help her deal with the loss, not make her not want to marry him!

"Daphne, you can't do this to yourself-"

"Why? Why can't I just weep for my sister, I don't want to live life like everything is rosy!"

"Because this will eat you up! You can't just waste away like this," Theo exclaimed, grabbing his fiancé's hands and bringing them up to his face. But Daphne's eyes were as cold as ice.

"Just watch me," Daphne took her hand away from his, and walked passed him out the bedroom.

Theo heard her heels clicked down their spiral stairs and cringed as the library door shut with a finishing slam.

Daphne paced for a while, the smell of old books not calming her like it usually did, and then collapsed on the floor. She tried to keep her sobs as quiet as possible, but still some of her cries escaped. What happened to her? She was supposed to be happy, she was going to be married, to her Hogwarts crush nonetheless. But it felt so bitter, so wrong.

Daphne didn't deserve to live so fruitfully, not when her sister was under ten foot of mud.

She easily located the bottle of Firewhisky that her husband-to-be poorly hid and took a large swig. _Yes this is what she needed_ Daphne thought, as she took another swig, _something to take the pain away._

(***)

 _Daphne's eyes scanned the crowded café for her younger sister. She wondered why her sister would want to meet her in such a muggle environment. Probably just to tick her-_

 _"Boo!"_

 _A weird scream escaped Daphne's throat, which made almost the entire café turn to look. She heard Astoria's giggles behind her._

 _"Astoria Greengrass!" Exclaimed Daphne, in a voice that reminded her of their mother._

 _"It's Astoria Malfoy, remember?" Astoria chimed, flashing her wedding finger at her._

 _"You'll always be a Greengrass to me," Daphne sneered and she turned on her heel to find an empty seat. Daphne strongly disliked Draco Malfoy, ever since he broke Pansy's heart. Thankfully, Pansy didn't hold it against her naive sister, who got close to him soon after. Daphne and Pansy both agreed that Draco was the slimiest of Slytherins and Astoria should heed their warnings of keeping a steel heart._

 _Daphne found them a table in a tight corner. They sat down and the waitress took their order: Daphne, a strong black coffee and Astoria, iced tea._

 _"So," Daphne said, taking a sip of her coffee, "why did you bring me here?"_

 _"Well, you see," Astoria hesitated before blurting out, "I'm going to New Zealand."_

 _"What!" Daphne spat out in such an unladylike fashion. Some of her coffee landed on Astoria, and she saw her sister clenching her jaw._

 _"I said, I am going to New Zealand."_

 _"But you can't go-"_

 _"And why not?" Astoria interrupted sharply._

 _"Well, um, why are you going anyway?"_

 _"For Draco. He has to go over there for a job prospect. Don't worry, everything will be paid for by both the British Ministry and the New Zealand Ministry, you see, Draco has a very important job and," but Astoria stopped because Daphne started snickering rudely, "what?"_

 _"Oh, sorry if I find this situation highly amusing. Astoria, you are going halfway across the world for a boy, Draco Malfoy nonetheless!"_

 _"I am finding it hard to see the humour, I love-"_

 _"Love! Ha! This is what love is making you do! Leave your family, a good paying job, your home-"_

 _"My home is wherever Draco is! If you met someone who loved you with all of their heart-"_

 _"Theo does love me, actually! He is a respectable man who loves me deeply, more than my sister does sometimes. Because, if you did care for me Astoria, you wouldn't leave me!" Daphne exclaimed, letting her true feelings out, wishing her sister understood what she was saying. But all Daphne could see was anger in Astoria's eyes._

 _"I do love you Daphne, very much, but if you can't even find it in your heart to be happy for me, then-then this is goodbye for now."_

 _Astoria stood up, gave her one more longing look and walked out of the café._

(***)

Imagine the sun never rising, or the flowers never blossoming. That's what Draco felt like now that Astoria was gone. Gone. It was a wonder how Draco was even surviving at the moment; he had moved back into Malfoy Manor, so his mother could help him with his one month old son as he could barely take care of himself.

A stubble had grown on his chin and his platinum blond curls were limp. He had stopped eating, smiling, laughing, living. It didn't matter now, living was simply torture for his soul.

 _Astoria. Astoria. Astoria._ He couldn't get her smile out of his head, or her taste out of his mouth. Her bright green eyes were still alive in his eyes and not stone cold dead. When did thinking about his wife become so heart breaking? The answer came into his mind without thinking about it. _When I realised I couldn't have her any more._

Draco didn't pay attention to where he was Apparating to, he just needed some fresh air and get away from his mother's pitiful looks and son's wailing. He Apparated to a daisy field. Her daisy field. The daisy field Astoria talked about when she was babbling on about her childhood.

This was also the field that Draco proposed to her on. A whole three years ago. Draco sighed heavily and decided to walk around the field for awhile, when-

"Hey!" Draco turned to the voice and his breath hitched in his throat. Astoria. But it was like the universe made silly mistakes to upset Draco. For example, Astoria had the most beautiful brown hair, while the girl in front of him had honey blonde hair, and Astoria's eyes were a forest green, not sea green. And then it dawned on him. This wasn't Astoria.

"Draco Malfoy!" Daphne Greengrass snarled, "the man who killed my sister!"

"I-I didn't kill her," Draco stuttered out, taken aback by the amount of malice that dripped from Daphne's words. It had nothing to do with the fact that Draco thought himself that he indirectly killed his wife.

"You took my sister away from me! You turned her against me! You made her took a bloody poisoned dagger for you when it was meant to end your life!" Daphne shouted, while Draco just stood and took the verbal abuse.

"You selfish, evil man!" Daphne had walked up to him and started to pound his chest. "Evil...how could you...scum...you never loved her-" Draco grabbed Daphne's wrists suddenly and forced her to look him in the eye.

"You can say anything to me because I have heard it all before, but I loved your sister. She was the mother of my child, my friend, my wife. Sometimes I-I think I should end it all. With one simple potion my pain, my sadness could be gone. I can barely cope without her Daphne."

Draco's eyes were full of more things than tears; agony, despair, anguish. Daphne saw these things in his grey eyes and all of the hate that was built up melted inside of her. As if Astoria's tranquil spirit was inside of her, somehow melting away the icicles that hung on her heart.

"Don't be ridiculous. Your son needs you. And he needs you to be strong. Astoria. She-she brought us-"

"Here," Draco finished.

"Yes. We used to make daisy chains here. Hers were always better than mine."

"I kind of proposed to her here. I remember, she looked so beautiful. She was wearing a-"

"Blue and white lace dress. With a straw hat," Daphne said and added, "Didn't you wonder where she Apparated to after?" when she saw Draco looking at her confused.

"I was just relieved she said yes," Draco smiled slightly.

None of them had to prompt the hug, it just happened. They stood there, both of them still feeling mournful, anguished and heavy in heart, but also a tiny bit at peace. They were brother and sister after all, even if it was just in law.

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 **Team: Montrose Magpies**

 **Position: Beater (2)**

 **Prompts:**

 **(word) tranquil**

 **(word) icicle**

 **Word Count: 1708**

 **My random emotion was and I wasn't allowed to use the word, or any alterations of the word, grief.**


End file.
